"These findings underscore the importance of identifying, supporting and encouraging all women who are vulnerable to a lower likelihood of breast feeding," the researchers say in the study published in the Medical Journal Australia.

"They may fear, or have been told by their surgeon, that breastfeeding could undo a satisfactory augmentation result," the study says.

Breast surgery in Australia costs around $10,000, it costs about $4,000 in Thailand and cut price operators are charging about $8,000 on the Gold Coast.

Another explanation could be that ducts and glands in the breast may be damaged during surgery or by pressure from the implants on the breast tissue, the paper says.

Complications of the surgery, infection or pain could be other explanations.

The researchers say women about to undergo breast augmentation should be given the information that one in five women who have the surgery don't breastfeed as part of informed decision making as the contemplate the surgery.

The study found 80 per cent of the women who had a breast augmentation were married or in a de factor relationship.

More than 54 per cent of the mothers who had a breast augmentation were from the advantaged or most advantaged socio-economic groups.